Crude prices surged to their highest levels since 2022 on Wednesday while investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the day. Brent crude for June delivery jumped 7.3 per cent to $119.34 a barrel by 1:15 pm Eastern time and touched an intraday high of $119.76. Brent for July delivery, where more active trading is taking place, rose 6.6 per cent to $111.27 a barrel, AP reported. The rise pushed Brent more than 10 per cent higher for the week so far. Oil prices have climbed sharply as President Donald Trump appeared willing to continue the US blockade of Iranian ships, limiting Tehran’s ability to export oil. Iran, in response, has kept the Strait of Hormuz closed to other oil tankers seeking to transport crude worldwide while the blockade remains in place. Despite the spike in energy prices, Wall Street losses remained modest. The S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent after retreating from a record high in the previous session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 335 points, or 0.7 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3 per cent. Markets were also cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate announcement. Most investors expect the Fed to keep the federal funds rate unchanged, as higher oil prices risk fuelling inflation even as lower rates could support growth. The meeting is widely expected to be Jerome Powell’s final one as Fed chair. Investors are also watching whether Powell signals he will remain at the central bank after handing over the chairmanship. Powell has repeatedly faced criticism from President Trump for not cutting rates faster and more aggressively. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rose to 4.40 per cent from 4.36 per cent late Tuesday following the latest jump in oil prices. Corporate earnings continued to influence stock-specific moves. Visa rose 9 per cent after reporting stronger-than-expected results. Chief Executive Ryan McInerney said consumer spending remained resilient during the quarter. Starbucks jumped 9.1 per cent after beating estimates and saying customers spent more per visit, especially in North America. Many companies this earnings season have exceeded analyst expectations, helping US stocks rally to records despite higher petrol prices and weaker consumer confidence linked to the Iran conflict. However, disappointing updates were punished sharply. GE Healthcare Technologies fell 11.9 per cent after missing forecasts. Robinhood Markets tumbled 14.1 per cent after reporting profit growth below analyst expectations. Booking Holdings swung between gains and losses after saying the Iran war had hurt travel demand and discouraged room bookings during the latest quarter. The company behind Booking.com and Priceline said the conflict could continue to affect business through June, including on key travel routes between Europe and Asia. Investors were also watching major technology companies due to report after market hours, including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Their results are expected to offer clues on whether heavy spending on AI chips and data centres is generating the profits needed to justify the boom. Broadcom slipped 0.5 per cent after falling 4.4 per cent in the previous session, while Nvidia lost 1.7 per cent.
Crude prices surged to their highest levels since 2022 on Wednesday while investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the day. Brent crude for June delivery jumped 7.3 per cent to $119.34 a barrel by 1:15 pm Eastern time and touched an intraday high of $119.7…
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The Houthis in Yemen have announced a blockade of Saudi Arabian shipping through Red Sea ports, including at the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The group, described as Iran-backed, stated the measure would target the top oil exporter following recent exchanges of fire.
Reports indicate this could add to existing maritime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz linked to US-Iran confrontations.
A Reuters poll of economists conducted July 7-16 shows that most Gulf Cooperation Council economies are now projected to contract more sharply in the current year than estimated three months earlier, with median forecasts indicating declines of 8.1% for Kuwait and Qatar, 5.
1% for Bahrain, and 0.5% for the UAE. Saudi Arabia and Oman remain the only GCC economies expected to expand. The poll links the revisions to reduced export volumes through the Strait of Hormuz, higher freight costs, and weaker investor sentiment, even as oil prices have risen.
Initial reports indicate that a limited number of vessels transited the waterway during the first full day after the United States implemented a naval blockade of Iran. These observations have not been independently verified.
The head of the UN’s nuclear agency yesterday signaled that Iranian nuclear enrichment sites would be visited by his inspectors, a key component in the interim deal between the US and Iran to reach an end to their war. The comment by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi was the firmest yet from the agency, which is viewed as key in determining the status of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
Since Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran last year, the IAEA has been blocked by Tehran from visiting enrichment sites where the Islamic republic is believed to store enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build as many as 10 nuclear weapons.
Photo: AP Iran has said that its program is peaceful, although it would be the only country in the world to have uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity without a weapons program. The US and Iran offered contradictory remarks on Tuesday about whether those sites would be inspected.
“I can understand political statements, they are part of the reality, but the fundamental thing I would like to remind you and draw your attention to is that there has been a memorandum of understanding, signed by both presidents,” Grossi told journalists at a news conference at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
The accord “explicitly states that the nuclear activities that are going to be carried out with the regards of the nuclear material facilities will be supervised by the IAEA — in all letters,” he said. “Obviously, to do that, we have to inspect,” Grossi added.
BOOST: By operating the same advanced systems as the US military, Taiwan would be better positioned to share and integrate intelligence with partners, an expert said The first batch of MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones has arrived in Taiwan, and is being assembled and tested by drone manufacturer General Atomics and the military ahead of flight trials as part of the air force’s acquisition to bolster its aerial surveillance capabilities, a source said yesterday.
The air force allocated a budget of NT$21.7 billion (US$687 million) from 2022 to 2029 to procure four MQ-9B uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) manufactured by General Atomics along with associated equipment such as ground control stations. The US has agreed to deliver the four MQ-9Bs to Taiwan in two batches this year and next ‘BRAZEN’: The holiday did not stop China from activities that infringe on Taiwan’s maritime jurisdiction, but the CGA is ready to defend the nation, Kuan Bi-ling said Beijing is intensifying maritime pressure on Taiwan, but the nation will never yield, Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Sung Chen-en (宋承恩) said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has adopted a “shadowing and monitoring” approach to avoid falling into a Chinese trap to escalate tensions and deepen the conflict, Sung said in an interview published yesterday in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
China Coast Guard formations patrolling waters east of Taiwan, as well as official Chinese vessels entering areas around Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) and Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) show Beijing’s attempts to significantly step up Taiwanese firms’ China investments have dwindled to less than 1 percent of their total foreign investments, putting China-based investments on track for a record low this year, Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed.
Taiwan’s investments abroad in the first five months of this year reached US$35.92 billion, Department of Investment Review data showed. Investments outside China totaled US$35.61 billion, up 133.94 percent year-on-year, while investments in China totaled US$310.
3 million, down 32.3 percent and about 0.86 percent of the total, data showed. Major overseas projects included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) US$30 billion capital injection into an overseas subsidiary, VARYING OPINIONS: People with different political affiliations have different views on how bilateral ties with the US, Japan and China would affect Taiwan’s security Two-thirds of Taiwanese view closer US and Japan ties as beneficial to security, a survey by Taiwan’s top military think tank showed.
To gauge the Taiwanese public’s perceptions of how different external relationships affect security, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research commissioned a survey by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center asking respondents whether closer relations with the US, Japan and China would strengthen or weaken Taiwan’s national security.